This year I've decided to sketch many of The Great Holy Men and Women of the Church. Come along with me on this journey as we get to know our elder brothers and sisters in faith.

"And therefore we also having so great a cloud of witnesses over our head, laying aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us," Heb 12:1

Thecla

September 24

(Julian Calendar)

Thecla (Ancient Greek: Θέκλα)was a saint of the early Christian Church, and a follower of Paul the Apostle. She was a young Greek-Syrian noblewoman who listened to Paul’s sermons, and was inspired to take up an ascetic life. A nobleman named Alexander desired her and attempted to take her by force. As a result he had her put to death, sentencing her to be eaten by wild beasts but Thecla was again saved by a series of miracles when the female beasts protected her against her male aggressors.